More employers are tying wellness-programs requirements to health-insurance premiums, offering discounts to those who achieve health goals or successfully complete company wellness programs. However, these results oriented programs have advocates worries that they may in fact make health care more expensive for those who need it most.

A more intense focus on math and English as well as a desire to incorporate health and fitness information into schools has led to physical education teachers to move beyond the traditional physical education curriculum and incorporate literacy skills and informational text into gym classes.

First Lady Michelle Obama is scheduled to hit the road to promote the Let’s Move! campaign including a visit to Chicago on February 28, 2013, where she is expected to make a major announcement about physical activity in schools.

The new health care law includes a provision that would allow employers with more than 50 employees to require overweight workers who do not exercise to pay more to cover their insurance premiums. Some employers are designing their programs after the television showThe Biggest Loser, as well as using money to encourage people to succeed where willpower has failed.

The White House announced on Thursday that Big Bird and the First Lady will star in a pair of public service announcements that encourage kids to eat healthier and be more active. In one video Big Bird will appear jogging, jumping and dancing in the East Room as Mrs. Obama explains the importance of daily exercise.

Dr. William Dietz, former Centers for Disease and Prevention official, speaks to current obesity statistics in the United States which show the prevalence of obesity in girls has stayed flat and has increased in boys, despite consuming fewer calories. He says, “The only explanation is that physical activity has declined, which is of real concern, because physical activity plays a major role in the prevention of chronic disease, including obesity.”

Mayor Michael Bloomberg has made fighting obesity and improving health one of New York City’s top priorities however, over the past two years membership of the City’s public physical activity centers has declined 45 percent.

Discovery Key Elementary School is taking part in the Heart Healthy program, a six week program part of the Presidential Challenge, which encourages students and teachers to be more physically active during the school day but also challenges students to do at least 30 minutes of physical activity at home every day.

The New Balance Foundation recently donated $100,000 to help the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center expand its Let’s Get Movin’ Program, which encourages exercise, good nutrition, and healthy life choices for children, adolescents, and families. Additionally, it will enable the center to begin their Babies Get Movin’ program which will education parents of infants on obesity prevention.

Children of America is one of the first childcare centers in the country to integrate a comprehensive wellness program into its curriculum, which includes physical activities that build endurance and cardiovascular strength in young children, and is encouraging other childcare centers across to the nation to follow suit.

Hawaii’s state media has launched a new campaign as an integral part to the Hawaii State Physical Activity and Nutrition Plan’s efforts to reduce obesity and chronic disease, the new campaign markets messages to adolescent and teens around healthy eating and active living.

The Florida Alliance of YMCAs is one of 14 to receive funds from YMCA of the USA, which was recently awarded nearly $7.9 million from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to expand its initiative from six states to a total of 21 states -- focusing on states with high rates of childhood obesity. Launched in 2009, the initiative convenes state and community leaders to work together to implement strategies that support healthy living including giving parents peace of mind by making safe walking routes to schools; helping to keep a generation of kids healthier by working with schools to increase physical education and physical activity during the school day or by working with after-school programs to provide additional opportunities outside the school day for physical activity.

Physical activity may decrease renal cancer risk by reducing obesity, blood pressure, insulin resistance, and lipid peroxidation. Despite plausible biologic mechanisms linking increased physical activity to decreased risk for renal cancer, few epidemiologic studies have been able to report a clear inverse association between physical activity and renal cancer, and no meta-analysis is available on the topic. Their comprehensive meta-analysis provides strong support for an inverse relation of physical activity to renal cancer risk.

University of Illinois psychology professor Art Kramer, a nationally recognized expert on the role of physical fitness on cognition, recently concluded his study, Physical Fitness Effects on Brain and Cognition, which demonstrates that older adults who participate in fitness training and physical activity benefit from significant improvements in their brain structure and function.

William Leonard, chair and professor of anthropology in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University, released a study on February 15, 2013, examining the evolutionary origins of human dietary and activity patterns and their implications for understanding modern health problems. He concluded that today, populations of the industrialized world live in environments characterized by low levels of energy expenditure and abundant food supplies contributing to growing rates of obesity.

International Journal of Behavioral Nutritional and Physical Activity, February 20, 2013

Literature links attributes of neighborhoods’ built environment to residents’ physical activity, food and transportation choices, weight, and/or obesity risk. Researchers found evidence that residential selection leads to an understatement of the casual effects of neighborhood walk ability features on BMI.